Assessing the Spatial Adaptability of High-Rise Apartment Unit Layouts for Children with Physical Mobility Impairments: An Exploratory Space Syntax Typology-Based Study

Children with physical mobility impairments (PMIOD) have sensitive physical and psychological needs for movement accessibility, visual safety, and emotional stability within the home environment. However, high- rise apartment layouts may support or restrict these needs through circulation structure, visual fields, and furniture arrangement. This study asks how different high-rise apartment unit layouts support or restrict PMIOD children’s movement accessibility, visual supervision, autonomy and privacy, and how furniture placement changes these spatial conditions. Eight three-bedroom high-rise apartment unit layouts were selected as cases, including four standardized layouts published by developers and four real layouts from PMIOD families. Axial analysis was used to compare circulation structure under baseline and furnished conditions, while Visibility Graph Analysis (VGA) assessed visual connectivity, isovist area, visual integration, and visual step depth in furnished layouts. Nonparametric tests were applied as exploratory checks. The results show that: 1) furniture intervention significantly changed the Axial structure, with decreased Connectivity and increased Choice, Mean Depth, RA, and Total Depth, indicating weaker direct connections and higher path depth and spatial hierarchy complexity; 2) Different layout groups also showed different descriptive spatial and visual profiles, but these should be understood as an exploratory framework rather than a validated residential typology; 3) different layouts showed different visual structures, and visual openness, visibility of the core shared area, and visual depth need to be balanced with caregiving needs, autonomy, and privacy boundaries. This study proposes a four-dimensional framework for evaluating apartment spatial adaptability: movement accessibility, visual accessibility and supervision, autonomy and privacy, and robustness to furnishing. The findings provide a preliminary reference for layout assessment, furniture optimization, and minor residential modifications for PMIOD families.